2025 Melville Pinot Noir Estate Sta Rita Hills

Most California Pinot under $50 either tastes jammy and overripe or thin and forgettable. Melville's Estate is the one I hand people who want the real thing — savory, lifted, alive — without spending three figures.

Melville is a family-owned, 100% estate operation in the Sta. Rita Hills, the cool, fog-raked corner of Santa Barbara County where Chad and Brent Melville planted in the 1990s, before the AVA even existed. They farm organically and make wine with a light hand: small open-top fermenters, a long, gentle maceration, and only neutral, 15-plus-year-old French barrels. No new-oak makeup.

The 2025 is 100% estate fruit from 30-year-old vines, a field blend of more than a dozen Pinot Noir clones (Pommard, Calera, Mount Eden and Swan among them). 40% went into the fermenters as whole clusters, and the wine rested on its lees in neutral oak, with no sulfur, until its first racking in May. Chad says he keeps going back to the glass because it has more secrets to tell.

Critics have rewarded this bottling year after year: 94 points from Wine Spectator on the 2024 and 96 from Wine Enthusiast on the 2023. The 2025 reviews aren't in yet, so open one with seared duck breast or anything with wild mushrooms and judge for yourself.